Imagine all that and more with Adventures By Disney. ABD takes families (listen up global small business owners ... a vacation may be just what you and your loved ones need!) on guided tours, discovering the world like never before.

Learn more:

Go Global with AAA and Disney

Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog

John Byrne's last podcast (we're a little late with this news -- sorry) as editor-in-chief at BusinessWeek (Why Dubai Matters). He's off doing his own thing now at C-Change Media.

Congrats to John for finally becoming a true free agent.

One (wo)man's distractions (Ford's) can be another (wo)man's global treasure (Volvo).

Read about how Ford's sale of Volvo to Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. could help the Chinese car maker further its global ambitions while allowing Ford to exit a money-losing business that was a distraction from its core operations.

Go here for the article.

Illustration source: Geely Holding Group

Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog

Listen to the podcast: Mansour Javidan, dean of research at the Thunderbird School of Global Management and co-author of the HBR article "Managing Yourself: Making It Overseas." Copyright 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing.

We've written extensively about what Dr. Javidan refers to as developing a "global mindset" (a major prerequisite to moving ahead in our world) and characteristics needed to achieve success as a leader in the global marketplace. So we are glad to see he's "on it."

Find out if you have a global mindset here (immediate download):

Are You Ready? Take The Global IQ Test To Find Out

And remember, even McDonald's was a small shop at one time. Why just click on the 1940 button and you'll see what I mean!

Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog

Here it comes. Brace yourself for a magical and revolutionary product that will change the way we do things on a global basis in the digital media sphere. It's called the iPad.

And we wrote about it first here (2/1/10). And then Mossberg over at the WSJ referred to it the same way here (4/1/10). Remember this piece too? "Who Has the Global Edge On Wireless Reading Devices?"

Looks like we are on to something. Are you ready?

Photo credit: Apple

Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog

Google's search sites in China abruptly stopped working earlier this week, but the explanation for the outage got a little loosey goosey as the day wore on. The Internet technology powerhouse first blamed itself, noting a technical change, but later reversed course and pointed to the heavy hand of China’s “Great Firewall" -- even as service appeared to be back to normal.

Read Google Runs Into China's "Great Firewall" over at the AllThingsD.

What do you think is really going on?

Then, I read the following and find it terribly unsettling yet fascinating at the same time:

Why Foreigners Can't Win in China

And to top that off, which I didn't think was possible, I catch this disturbing piece related not to Google-China relations but to China, the country itself, that makes me want to never ever write about China again:

China Body-Dumping Case Highlights Clash of Values (I'll say)

All of this gives us an idea of the country and the people we are negotiating with.

Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog

On February 9th, I served as a panelist for the San Francisco-based SMB Summit, "How Businesses Can Capitalize on the Rebounding Economy," that was hosted by Verio and Inc. Magazine and for private-company CEOs, business owners, and Inc. 500|5000 alumni. It was a great experience to share insights with other leading experts in the SMB sphere, including:

• Donna Fenn, Moderator, International Author, Contributing Editor/Blogger at Inc. Magazine
• Mitchell Merrifield, Senior Director of Managed Computing Solutions, Verio, Inc.
• Brian Burch, Director of SMB Marketing, Americas Region, Personal Systems Group, Hewlett-Packard Company
• Laurel Delaney, President, GlobeTrade.com
• Kristin Micalizio, V.P. Strategic Initiatives, Office Depot North America
• Alex Freemon, Volunteer, Silicon Valley Chapter, SCORE

My focus was on how small to medium-size businesses (SMBs) can grow and capitalize on the rebounding economy by taking their businesses global. Here are some of the questions I addressed, my responses, stories I shared and some other issues that came up as a result of our lively conversation (attendees were magnificent!).

Snippet:

Q: Let’s start by addressing the 800-pound gorilla in the room: Is the economy rebounding? Tell us if you’ve seen some glimmers of recovery; how are you reading the tea leaves?

My response: Not really, although I find it hard to imagine it getting any worse. We are at rock bottom so the only way is up. Nothing, other than the “tech” industry, tells me there’s a rebound. What I mean by that is Cisco (Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers indicated, “This is one of the most robust positive turnarounds I’ve seen in my career”), Microsoft, IBM, Apple, NetSuite and Google all reported stunning profit results for the last quarter of 2009, which means SMB owners might be getting more tech savvy in preparation for a slow recovery. But let’s face it, money is not just tight. There is no money for growth unless you are running an established business with a wildly successful track record. That’s scary for people who have insanely great ideas and can’t get them funded. The good news for SMB owners who are tinkering with the notion of taking their business global is that our commerce secretary, Gary Locke, pledged $6 billion a year in export financing for USA small businesses through the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

Aside from all this, the only real sign I am seeing with SMB owners related to recovery is ...

Read the entire piece here.

Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog